The gore fest starts a hundred pages in (ebook version), and doesn't let up. This showed up in my feed a few times and I considered checking it out, but was worried I wouldn't get the jokes. I read a glowing review of this, though, and decided to check it out. Even if I didn't get the jokes, it could be a good read.
TW: Shoah reference; other stuff I'm probably forgetting in this moment.

MC is super unlikeable. To borrow a term from Jenny Trout: Whiny McShutUp. She rags on a gal who's working at the store for...having unusually expensive nails and rainbow hair. She makes a remark about "behind a rebel, you'll always find daddy's credit cards" or something. Just say you don't want her working retail because of class differences, you grumble factory. How do you know she doesn't get a discount of some kind, too? Maybe the nail person can do nails but can't clean her whole apartment due to a condition or something, so that's the trade. I know people who have done that. I had a neighbor who worked as a professional hairdresser who worked out of her home, where rich people wouldn't set foot near. People who wanted her services offered trades: to clean her apartment; to cook food; to work out whatever they could. So it does exist. But the rainbow-haired gal with the expensive nails was clearly written to be a brat. The author did this effectively. I hated everyone except Ruth Ann. Poor Ruth Ann.

MC hates her job and doesn't really seem to like anyone, yet she's stated to be popular Because the Author Says So. She compares new hires following her to ducklings and uhh, would have likely had a fit if they -hadn't-. They were on the first week of a new job that they want to keep. You used to -be- that person, MC. How quickly you forget where you come from.

This is supposed to be a horror comedy. I got the vibe of the jokes I guess, but only laughed once at the entire novel: Ruth Ann cracks one of the FUNNIEST JOKES I'VE HEARD RECENTLY OMG during the seance. I burst out laughing! So much that I had to set the book aside. It was PERFECT. Ahahaha haha ha. I was so dismayed by Ruth Ann's fate, and was able to smile a little at how she was celebrated after. Ruth Ann was by far my favorite.
I really liked how the chapters opened with different objects and devices. I've never worked for Ikea but got and enjoyed the vibe. The joke turns sinister somewhat abruptly. I flipped back and forth between the object descriptions and chapters sometimes. It's great foreshadowing. The final item in the book had me exhale with relief and then as I reread the description, my heart sank. I didn't know how the object would be used--leisurely or quickly? And the chapter proceeded, and my question was answered. Really got a lot out of that..

When the writing on the walls appeared, I was fascinated and without any prior knowledge, immediately caught onto the allegory. I was delighted to find out I was right. Ooh, I liked those parts. And the managerial reviews comparing to the warden ones. Ooh, I liked that device a lot. Even as I panicked because I felt like I could predict what had happened to characters of the past and was worried about the modern ones.

There is a "blink and you miss it" Shoah reference. The one related to "work...free." I won't post the entire phrase. It was used to mock people as they were forced into camps in the 1940s. So here there is something I felt was a reference to that, and I was stunned and horrified. Oh my G-d. That is...a choice Hendrix made. And my choice is to not read any of his books going further. Maybe that's not what he was going for at all, but maybe he was, and it was in there and I'm upset by that and so I will not make an active effort to read his books anymore. Why was that in here? On so many levels. Some of the characters are from the late seventeenth century, not the 1940s. Retail is not a concentration camp.
And...somehow...Hendrix got to introduce the book "The Tribe" by Bari Weiss, which is a golem story. He's...not Jewish, from what I researched for two minutes. So that's...um. It's because he writes widely read horror, maybe? Whatever, that book confused me because it's two wildly different stories in one and I had to stop reading after fifty pages. The transitions were bad there.

The whole, "This person died during an overnight team-building exercise" noted about other characters at the end of the book was so, so sad. Of course corporate would describe it that way. Of course stuff like this would happen at multiple stores. This was fiction. But if this could happen, corporate would do that and events like that would.
MC's descent into PTSD and depression was good. It was understandable. I liked that as the aftermath. I liked how her roommates approached it. Eight months of it; a good writing choice.
The ending was a Big Lipped Alligator moment. I was super annoyed.

While it had good points, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.. ( )

"'I've been trained in retail crisis management,' Basil said. 'Let me handle this.'" (pg. 98)

A 'haunted house' story in a haunted IKEA store, Grady Hendrix's Horrorstör is a light horror story that establishes itself more by its endearing novelty than its just-about-serviceable storytelling. The story is set up much like a horror B-movie, with the same plot formula and, sadly, the same level of character depth and dialogue. This works just fine, however, as the plot is basically just there to hold up Hendrix's cute novelty. The only disappointment is that there are no surprises along the way, and that some of the characters become an afterthought. The book is reasonably paced and conjures a decent eerie presence. Everything proceeds more or less how you would expect. As a story, this is unremarkable, but has a passing grade.

However, it is that novelty aspect which is the book's main selling point. The physical novel is designed as a facsimile IKEA catalogue, and while the story itself is never fired with a genius to match, it is for this reason that Horrorstör never loses its charm. The idea of trying to escape a haunted IKEA after closing time is always appealing (note: the store in Hendrix's book is not actually IKEA, but an IKEA "knockoff" called Orsk (pg. 10)). The story has flaws which prevent a lasting savour, but you won't regret indulging Hendrix's fully-realised facsimile for a day or two. ( )

This was fun, not as scary as I expected, but just imagining spending the night in a closed Orsk (Ikea) store is pretty scary without the horror details. The advertising announcements read by Bronson Pinchot were the creepiest parts. ( )

The actual story/writing/character development is a solid three stars. The extra star is for the gimmick of making the book look like an IKEA catalog and for the overall idea of a haunted IKEA.

Not a scary type of horror, more of a kinda gross out type of horror. There was a lot of potential that never got fully realized. It was definitely a fun read though and I will never walk through an IKEA again without thinking about this book. ( )

Quick, fun read. Pacing is swift, dialogue is good, and the take on corporate retail is funny. Can easily see it turned into a movie. ( )